For the fifth straight year, McKinney Boyd has defeated both North and MHS to claim the Collin McKinney Cup and solidify itself as the best football program in town. Junior Bryan Driskell rushed for five touchdowns in Boyd’s season opener versus the Bulldogs and the Broncos cruised to a 42-10 victory. Then, in last night’s crosstown clash with McKinney High, junior Chris Stanton picked off Lions quarterback Robert Somborn three times to help lead the Broncos to a 38-28 win at Ron Poe Stadium.

The night was filled with several standout performances but none was more impressive than that of Stanton, who was named player of the game at the end of the night for his defensive efforts.

“Chris played his heart out tonight,” junior defensive tackle Jarell Humphrey said. “I told him tonight would be a big night for him but I didn’t think he would get that many [interceptions]. He was just in the right place at the right time.”

At first glance, Somborn’s Friday night statistics indicate a near flawless performance consisting of 322 yards passing, four touchdowns, and 76 yards rushing on six carries. But the stat that more accurately sums up Somborn’s night versus Boyd’s defense is the junior’s six interceptions. Humphrey complimented the Broncos’ defense by saying that it helped force those turnovers but also added that Somborn was guilty of throwing bad passes on several of those plays.

“It seemed like sometimes he just threw the ball right to us,” he said.

After Driskell’s incredible five-touchdown performance in week one, he followed up with a two-touchdown game against Flower Mound and failed to reach 100 yards rushing. Driskell scored a pair of touchdowns versus MHS and added a whopping 342 yards to go with his two scores, bringing his season total to 592 yards and 9 touchdowns.

“Bryan had a great night on the ground, which was important to our success tonight,” Boyd head coach Don Drake said.

Running back Kalvon Howard was absent from the Broncos’ backfield in last week’s game versus the Jaguars. The junior made up for lost time by scoring Boyd’s first touchdown of the night on a 60-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Curtis Ladd. Howard also scored Boyd’s final touchdown of the game on an eight-yard carry in the third quarter.

“He had a really good game,” Driskell said. “Me and Kalvon are a good compliment to each other and we keep the defense on its toes. We’re a good one-two punch.”

“Now we’re moving him around to the slot to get us both on the field at the same time. I feel like that’s a really good move for us, offensively.”

Following Howard’s third quarter touchdown run, the Broncos were outscored 21-0 to end the game. The Lions scored on back-to-back touchdown passes to Quentin Casner (14 catches, 113 yards) and Connor Fuentes (3 catches, 63 yards), and recovered an onside kick to set up a final touchdown pass to Casner. By the time the Lions made their late game run, the Broncos were already playing several of their backups.

“Late in the ballgame we played a lot of kids then we put out the ones to seal the victory,” Drake said.

Despite a valiant late-game effort from its defense, McKinney Boyd ended up on the losing end of a 44-36 heartbreaker versus Flower Mound in week two. The Broncos attempted to put the game behind them and focus solely on McKinney High but when they arrived to practice on Monday morning, they were still feeling the lingering effects of Friday’s disappointing loss. A win over rival MHS was exactly what the Broncos needed heading into next Thursday’s showdown with Garland Lakeview Centennial.

“In practice it seemed like everybody was dragging and down so we just wanted a win tonight to get things going and get everybody back on a roll,” Humphrey said. “We’re going to try to carry this over into next week and get a big win.”